Aktion Kinder des Holocaust

Aktion Kinder des Holocaust (AKdH, "Action 'Children of the Holocaust'") is a Swiss voluntary association founded in 1991. Its principal aim is the documentation of and opposition to antisemitism in Switzerland It is associated with the University of Basel research projects "VIOLENCE youth" and "Right-wing youths in Switzerland".

Its modus operandi is to contact "insecure adolescents who might be turned from their extremist views" on web forums and chatrooms and to engage them personally, a practice they describe as "Internet Streetworking".[1] It also maintains extensive documentation of antisemitic statements made in Switzerland or on Swiss websites and puts pressure on Internet hosting service providers to terminate offending websites. .[2]

Among its activities, in 2002 it criticized the work of Brazilian political cartoonist Carlos Latuff in 2002 for a cartoon depicting a Jewish boy in the Warsaw Ghetto saying "I am Palestinian".[3] Also in 2002, it sued the Independent Media Center (IMC, also known as Indymedia) of Switzerland on the charge of antisemitism. The reason was a cartoon of Latuff's We are all Palestinians series, published in Swiss IMC website, which depicted a Jewish boy in the Warsaw Ghetto saying: "I am Palestinian."[4] The criminal proceedings were suspended by Swiss court later in 2002.[5]

Notable supporters listed as members of its "patronage committee" include Israeli writer Uri Avnery, Swiss writers Peter Bichsel and Mariella Mehr, former chief rabbi of Denmark Bent Melchior, Swiss anti-racist activist Sigi Feigel (d. 2004), and Holocaust survivor Simon Wiesenthal (d. 2005).[6]

References
  1. Samuel Althof, Internet Streetworking, an Instrument for Psychosocial Short-Term Intervention, presentation at the "OSCE Meeting on the Relationship Between Racist, Xenophobic and antiSemitic Propaganda on the Internet and Hate Crimes", Paris, 16 – 17 June 2004.
  2. Yahoo! said to delete dozens of neo-Nazi sites by Rick Perera, Cable News Network , February 7, 2001. Accessed June 2008
  3. Infoshop News Archived 2008-07-04 at the Wayback Machine - Jun 3, 2006
  4. Alex Schärer: Linke und Antisemitismus: Der Indymedia-Streit - Aufpassen, was im Kübel landet, WOZ Die Wochenzeitung, April 4, 2002. Junge Welt: Ärger im Internet: Wegen antisemitischer Beiträge hat Indymedia Schweiz den Betrieb gestoppt, February 25, 2002. Aktion Kinder des Holocaust: Is this cartoon by Latuff, published at indymedia-switzerland, anti-Semitic? An analysis Archived 2011-05-01 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Hamadeh, Anis (August 2002). "Jewish peace activists and Israeli violence". Archived from the original on 16 August 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-21.
  6. Das Patronatskomitee (akdh.ch)
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